Coast Guard honors service’s only Medal of Honor recipient

The original Medal of Honor which was presented posthumously to Signalman First Class Douglas Munro by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, is displayed at the 75th anniversary ceremony held in Cle Elum, Wash., Sept. 27, 2017. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer David Mosley.

Cle Elum, WA – Douglas A. Munro, a signalman first class of the United States Coast Guard, died heroically on Guadalcanal on 27 September 1942. Having volunteered to evacuate a detachment of Marines who were facing annihilation by an unanticipated large enemy force, he succeeded in safely extricating them and in doing so was mortally wounded.

Coast Guard crew members from units across the Pacific Northwest attended the 75th anniversary ceremony to remember and honor Petty Officer Munro in Cle Elum today.

Admiral Paul Zukunft, commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, attended the ceremony along with a U.S. Marine Corps honor guard that conducted a 21 gun salute in honor of Munro.

Coast Guard crew members from units across the Pacific Northwest attend the 75th anniversary ceremony for Signalman First Class Douglas Munro in Cle Elum, Wash., Sept. 27, 2017. .Munro was killed on Sept. 27, 1942, at age 22, while leading the rescue effort of several hundred Marines under attack by Japanese forces on the island of Guadalcanal. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer David Mosley.

Admiral Paul Zukunft, commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, speaks at the 75th anniversary ceremony honoring Signalman First Class Douglas Munro held in Cle Elum, Wash., Sept. 27, 2017. The Medal of Honor was presented posthumously to Munro by President Franklin D. Roosevelt at a Whitehouse ceremony held in 1943. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer David Mosley.

Veterans and members of the Coast Guard place memorial wreaths at the grave site of Signalman First Class Douglas Munro in Cle Elum, Wash., Sept. 27, 2017. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer David Mosley.

A U.S. Marine Corps honor guard conducts a 21 gun salute in honor of Coast Guard Signalman First Class Douglas Munro at a ceremony held in Cle Elum, Wash., Sept. 27, 2017. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer David Mosley.

Members of the Coast Guard Pipe Band perform at the 75th anniversary ceremony honoring Signalman First Class Douglas Munro, in Cle Elum, Wash., Sept 27, 2017. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer David Mosley.

The headstone for the grave of Coast Guard Signalman First Class Douglas Munro marks his final resting place at Laurel Hill Memorial Park, Cle Elum, Wash., Sept 27, 2017. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer David Mosley.

The original Medal of Honor which was presented posthumously to Signalman First Class Douglas Munro by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, is displayed at the 75th anniversary ceremony held in Cle Elum, Wash., Sept. 27, 2017. The original medal is maintained at the Coast Guard Museum a the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., and this is one of the few times it has ever left the Academy grounds. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer David Mosley.